Reading Comprehension: The Effects of a Language Experience Organizer and a Teacher Structured Vocabulary Organizer as Prereading Activities

Abstract

Below level tenth grade language arts students were given both a posttest and a delayed posttest to measure their comprehension of five selected reading passages. The students were divided into two groups. One group received a language experience advance organizer prior to reading the passages. The other group received a teacher structured vocabulary organizer prior to reading the passages. No significant difference was found between the language experience advance organizer group and the teacher structured vocabulary group in comprehension as measured by a posttest and a delayed posttest. Although the language experience advance organizer group achieved a higher mean on both the posttest and the delayed posttest, the difference was due to chance. The results of this study are consistent with the findings of Anderson and Freebody (1983). According to Anderson and Freebody (1983), the understanding of a particular text depends only partially on an accurate identification of words. A replication of the study using a different population was suggested.